How can you successfully manage a recruitment drive during company expansion?

20th November 2018

Employees provide a strong foundation for any business, especially during a period of expansion. If your business is growing then recruitment is going to be crucial to supporting that positive change and helping your organisation continue to thrive. However, managing a recruitment drive in the midst of an expansion can be challenge, which is why it needs to be carefully organised.

Define the timing requirements

Once you know that a position is going to have to be filled by a certain date you can work backwards from that point. The average length of recruitment for a single role is eight weeks, from the moment when the ad is posted to the day the new employee starts. Identify the positions involved in your recruitment drive, the start days for each one and the dates on which different recruitment stages will take place. You’ll need to include posting the job ad, shortlisting interviews and onboarding in your eight-week timeline.

Establish your approach

The role and the resources that you have available for recruitment will to a certain extent define the approach that you take. Working with a recruitment partner, such as an agency, can have a positive impact in terms of speeding up the process and narrowing down the candidates. An agency can provide a range of recruitment support, from simply attracting candidates to managing the entire process of shortlisting and interview.

Create a comprehensive job description

The importance of the job description is often underestimated. A sound description will inform everything that follows, from whether applicants decide to apply, to the way that applications are sorted and processed. The job description should cover the basics (title, qualifications etc), as well as defining daily tasks and requirements, and distinguishing between the skills and attributes that are essential or simply desirable. Crucially, the job description must be concise – job descriptions of around 600-700 words tend to receive the most applicants.

Shortlist with efficiency

Shortlisting is the process of narrowing down the pool of applicants to those you want to interview. It can be very time consuming but doing it effectively will ensure you end up with the best candidates. Outsourcing shortlisting to an agency can be more efficient and may also result in more appropriate candidates to interview. All your shortlisted candidates should have the skills and experience on paper to do the job.

Prepare for interviews

The interview stage is an opportunity to get to know candidates and reduce numbers down to one or two. Most roles benefit from a double interview process, for some an assessment day may also be useful. Questions are best prepared in advance and should be open so that candidates have to do more than just give a yes or no answer.

Onboarding

This is the last stage before the end of the recruitment process and enables the transition of your applicant to full employee. A high-quality onboarding process will ensure your new member of staff can hit the ground running and that they have a positive perception about the business’ commitment to its workers. New starters need time to settle and often benefit from a “buddy” or mentor system when it comes to finding their place in the business.

We can provide support at any stage in a recruitment drive. Contact 2i Recruit today to find out more.